Kimberly Poremba
Final-Research Essay
December 14, 2010
Romeo and Juliet Versus West Side Story
Almost all people are familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet for it has been told for many years now. Renditions in the form of books, movies, and plays have been created following the original Romeo and Juliet play written by William Shakespeare in the late 16th century. The renditions vary greatly, with the main parallel being that the two characters who fall in love are from opposite social groups and they have to overcome obstacles in order to be together. For this paper, I am comparing the Romeo and Juliet performance in 1662 taken place in London, England and the Broadway musical West Side Story which was directly based on the story of Romeo and Juliet and performed in 1957 in New York, New York. Since West Side Story was based off the original Shakespeare play, there are many similarities between the two. However, there are also numerous amounts of differences between the two performances. The differences between the plays are not necessarily what is most important, but instead how the productions differed due to the dramatic difference in the year it was performed. Why those changes were made is also significant. Listed here are the major differences between each production.
CAST AND CREW
Characters
Many of the key characters in West Side Story are based on counterparts in Romeo and Juliet. [1]
West Side Story
Romeo and Juliet
Tony
Romeo
Maria
Juliet
Bernardo
Tybalt
Anita
Nurse
Riff
Mercutio
Doc
Friar Laurence and the Apothecary
Chino
Paris
Jets
Montagues
Sharks
Capulets
Schrank and Officer Krupke
Prince Escalus and Citizens
Action
Sampson
Baby John
Benvolio
A-Rab
Abraham
Anybodys
Balthazar
PERFORMANCES
Theater
Sir William Davenant of the Duke's Company staged a 1662 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. This is known as the “Dorset Garden Theatre” which became renamed in 1689 as “Queen’s Theatre”. It was located in the Dorset Gardens in London, England. There were 1000 seats total. [2]
The original Broadway production of the West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. There was a total of 732 performances and the production closed on June 27, 1959. The Winter Garden Theatre is located on Broadway in New York, New York. It is still in use and is currently showing The Christmas Carol. [3]
It is interesting to recognize that there was only one production of Romeo and Juliet but multiple performances of West Side Story. In fact, West Side Story showed for nearly two years. This is because in Europe in 1662 there was only one group of people that would see such performances. In comparison to America in 1957 where there was an incomparable amount of people who had the option of seeing the production. For this reason, Europe only needed one performance to show everyone of the city worthy of attending a performance but America needed multiple shows. Having West Side Story play for so long gave many different people the opportunity to attend the show.
Seating plan
This is the seating plan of the Dorset Garden Theatre which is now known as the Queens Theatre, where the 1662 production of Romeo and Juliet occurred. [4]
This is the seating plan of The Winter Garden Theatre, where the production of West Side Story occurred. The maximum capacity is 1526 people. [5]
The fact the play of Romeo and Juliet was in Europe and the West Side Story play was in America also goes along with the differences between the productions. The theatres were set up about the same; each having a thrust style stage with the audience directly in front of the stage. However, the West Side Story production had more props, scenery, and backdrops than the Romeo and Juliet production did. In 1662, the producers did not have as much access to such materials that producers in 1957 did. Stage additions such as lights, colorful backdrops, and detailed props were not as readily available to Europeans in 1662. Also, it is important to note that colored television was invented previous to the West Side Story production. This meant that since people had access to motion picture, the production company of West Side Story had to compete against television and movies to get an audience. Good reviews were crutial to continuing the play. In comparison, Europeans in 1662 did not have the quality of entertainment as Americans did in 1957. This made it less competitive for the producers since there was no other form of entertainment.
PRIMARY MATERIALS
Costumes
Romeo and Juliet: Painting by Francesco Hayez [6]
West Side Story: [7]
There was also a significant costume change between the two performances. In the 1662 production of Romeo and Juliet, the women were dressed in big, long, fancy dresses and the men were often dressed in tights and a nice top. Not many photos were taken in 1662, especially not during a performance. However, many artists have painted and drawn photos of scenes of the production and what people wore during the age of Romeo and Juliet. For this reason, I have provided a picture of what the ideal actors in the early performances of Romeo and Juliet would be dressed like. These costumes are similar to what upper class Europeans wore in 1662 and they did not think anything peculiar about them. No one in America in 1957 dressed like the characters in the performance of Romeo and Juliet so the play would have less of a relation to the audience's lives. In contrast to Romeo and Juliet, in the 1957 production of West Side Story, the men often were seen wearing jeans and t-shirts or a business suit. The women wore more casual dresses, showing more skin than the dresses of Romeo and Juliet. For American's in 1957, this apparel was seen as completely normal and ordinary. However if these clothes were worn for Romeo and Juliet, the audience would be flabbergasted. The costumes of each performances exemplifies the dramatic difference in apparel of people throughout the years.
Poster/Advertisements
Romeo and Juliet: [8]
West Side Story: 1957 production [9]
It is clear that these two images are extremely different. The poster for Romeo and Juliet is more like an announcement, where the poster for West Side Story is similar to an advertisement. This relates back to the idea that West Side Story had to compete with other productions for an audience. They had to attract an audience by using a colorful picture to grab the attention of someone passing by it on the street. For the announcement of Romeo and Juliet, the poster was clearly just to inform the public of when, where, and time of the play. The production did not have to compete with others and the people of Europe had most likely already heard of the play through people they knew either in the performance or helping set up the performance and it spread from there by word of mouth.
Script
The script of Romeo and JulietI[10] Versus the script of West Side Story[11]
There are many parallels between the scripts of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. The first is the beginning; Romeo and Juliet starts out with a street fight between the Montagues and Capulets. Likewise, the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story have a similar fight to start the production. The fight in West Side Story is broken up by Krupke and Schrank, just as Prince Escalus breaks up the Montague-capulet fight. The second major parallel is when the two main characters meet. Some montague men crash the Capulet party in which Romeo meets Juliet. In West Side Story, Maria and Tony see each other from opposite sides of the gym and are immediately attracted to each other. Later, Romeo searches for Juliet and finds her at her balcony. After the dance in West Side Story, Tony finds Maria and uses the fire escape. Additionally, Romeo and Juliet go to a Friar to get married whereas Maria and Tony role-play a wedding during their tryst in the bridal shop. Another parallel is the big fight scene of West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. Bernardo kills Riff like Tybalt kills Mercutio. Later, Tony avenges Riff’s death by killing Bernardo, just as Romeo kills Tybalt. Furthermore, the Capulet nurse is played around with and disgraced by Montague men in the story of Romeo and Juliet, while Anita is taunted and attacked by the Jets in West Side Story. A third important parallel is the endings of both plays. Both stories feature Maria/Juliet’s false death and Tony/Romeo’s suicidal response to this mistaken belief that his love is dead. An enraged Anita, following the attempted rape, deliberately tells the Jets that Chino has killed Maria, instead of conveying the original message of where Tony should meet with her. Comparatively, Juliet fakes her death, but an explanatory message sent to Romeo is delayed, causing him not to know her death is pretend. In West Side Story, Tony seeks out Chino in misery, wishing to die like Maria. Similarly in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo wishes to visit Juliet’s grave to take poison and die with her.
Not only are the differences between the script interesting, but also the differences in the productions. By changing the script of Romeo and Juliet and reproducing it as a Broadway play, West Side Story was able to attract a whole new audience. The fued between social and economical classes in Romeo and Juliet, such as the Montagues and Capulets, was appropriate for the 16th century when Shakespeare wrote the play. It was also appropriate for the 1662 reenactment because issues between social and economic classes was an important issue. However, West Side Story had more of a relation with people in the 20th century. Instead of having the two main characters be from different classes, they were from two different gangs. Especially with the first production being in New York, the audience was able to relate the play to real life.
SECONDARY MATERIALS
Contemporary Reviews
Romeo and Juliet Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he saw the premiere of Romeo and Juliet on March 1, 1662, given by William Davenant’s company, the Duke’s Men. Pepys was not impressed: ‘It is the play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do’, largely because the actors didn’t know their lines. [12] Pepys was writing at the moment that, according to Jack Lynch, author of Becoming Shakespeare, marked the beginning of the rise of Shakespeare's reputation from the obscurity into which it had fallen after his death to the unassailable peak it now occupies. The oddity of this rise, expertly told here, is that it came about by way of versions of the plays that were cut, altered, censored and rewritten so that a lot of what we nowadays regard as quintessentially Shakespearean - violence, bawdy, irreverence - was left out.[13]
West Side Story [14]
Clearly the reviews between each performance are much different from each other. It was difficult to find reviews from the performance of Romeo and Juliet in 1662 but the one that was found was blatant, to the point, and not very detailed. The review was negative and said the play was bad and the acting was horrible. Conversely, the reviews of West Side Story were catchy, bold, and captivating. The remarks were positive and inspiring to those who have not seen the production. The commentary of Romeo and Juliet was done after the performance, knowing that no one else was going to see it. It was also written in someone's diary, not for the public to see. The comments about West Side Story were more than likely published while the play was still going on in an attempt to attract more viewers.
In conclusion, although both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story had similarities in script and characters, there were also many differences. Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the disparity between the scripts or characters that are important but instead what elements of each performance were different. The locations, costumes, advertisements, performances, and many other elements of each play are key to understanding the diversity between productions long ago and present time.
Final-Research Essay
December 14, 2010
Romeo and Juliet Versus West Side Story
Almost all people are familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet for it has been told for many years now. Renditions in the form of books, movies, and plays have been created following the original Romeo and Juliet play written by William Shakespeare in the late 16th century. The renditions vary greatly, with the main parallel being that the two characters who fall in love are from opposite social groups and they have to overcome obstacles in order to be together. For this paper, I am comparing the Romeo and Juliet performance in 1662 taken place in London, England and the Broadway musical West Side Story which was directly based on the story of Romeo and Juliet and performed in 1957 in New York, New York. Since West Side Story was based off the original Shakespeare play, there are many similarities between the two. However, there are also numerous amounts of differences between the two performances. The differences between the plays are not necessarily what is most important, but instead how the productions differed due to the dramatic difference in the year it was performed. Why those changes were made is also significant. Listed here are the major differences between each production.
CAST AND CREW
Characters
Many of the key characters in West Side Story are based on counterparts in Romeo and Juliet. [1]
PERFORMANCES
Theater
Sir William Davenant of the Duke's Company staged a 1662 adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. This is known as the “Dorset Garden Theatre” which became renamed in 1689 as “Queen’s Theatre”. It was located in the Dorset Gardens in London, England. There were 1000 seats total. [2]
The original Broadway production of the West Side Story opened at the Winter Garden Theatre on September 26, 1957. There was a total of 732 performances and the production closed on June 27, 1959. The Winter Garden Theatre is located on Broadway in New York, New York. It is still in use and is currently showing The Christmas Carol. [3]
It is interesting to recognize that there was only one production of Romeo and Juliet but multiple performances of West Side Story. In fact, West Side Story showed for nearly two years. This is because in Europe in 1662 there was only one group of people that would see such performances. In comparison to America in 1957 where there was an incomparable amount of people who had the option of seeing the production. For this reason, Europe only needed one performance to show everyone of the city worthy of attending a performance but America needed multiple shows. Having West Side Story play for so long gave many different people the opportunity to attend the show.
Seating plan
This is the seating plan of the Dorset Garden Theatre which is now known as the Queens Theatre, where the 1662 production of Romeo and Juliet occurred. [4]
This is the seating plan of The Winter Garden Theatre, where the production of West Side Story occurred. The maximum capacity is 1526 people. [5]
The fact the play of Romeo and Juliet was in Europe and the West Side Story play was in America also goes along with the differences between the productions. The theatres were set up about the same; each having a thrust style stage with the audience directly in front of the stage. However, the West Side Story production had more props, scenery, and backdrops than the Romeo and Juliet production did. In 1662, the producers did not have as much access to such materials that producers in 1957 did. Stage additions such as lights, colorful backdrops, and detailed props were not as readily available to Europeans in 1662. Also, it is important to note that colored television was invented previous to the West Side Story production. This meant that since people had access to motion picture, the production company of West Side Story had to compete against television and movies to get an audience. Good reviews were crutial to continuing the play. In comparison, Europeans in 1662 did not have the quality of entertainment as Americans did in 1957. This made it less competitive for the producers since there was no other form of entertainment.
PRIMARY MATERIALS
Costumes
Romeo and Juliet: Painting by Francesco Hayez [6]West Side Story: [7]
There was also a significant costume change between the two performances. In the 1662 production of Romeo and Juliet, the women were dressed in big, long, fancy dresses and the men were often dressed in tights and a nice top. Not many photos were taken in 1662, especially not during a performance. However, many artists have painted and drawn photos of scenes of the production and what people wore during the age of Romeo and Juliet. For this reason, I have provided a picture of what the ideal actors in the early performances of Romeo and Juliet would be dressed like. These costumes are similar to what upper class Europeans wore in 1662 and they did not think anything peculiar about them. No one in America in 1957 dressed like the characters in the performance of Romeo and Juliet so the play would have less of a relation to the audience's lives. In contrast to Romeo and Juliet, in the 1957 production of West Side Story, the men often were seen wearing jeans and t-shirts or a business suit. The women wore more casual dresses, showing more skin than the dresses of Romeo and Juliet. For American's in 1957, this apparel was seen as completely normal and ordinary. However if these clothes were worn for Romeo and Juliet, the audience would be flabbergasted. The costumes of each performances exemplifies the dramatic difference in apparel of people throughout the years.
Poster/Advertisements
Romeo and Juliet: [8]
West Side Story: 1957 production [9]
It is clear that these two images are extremely different. The poster for Romeo and Juliet is more like an announcement, where the poster for West Side Story is similar to an advertisement. This relates back to the idea that West Side Story had to compete with other productions for an audience. They had to attract an audience by using a colorful picture to grab the attention of someone passing by it on the street. For the announcement of Romeo and Juliet, the poster was clearly just to inform the public of when, where, and time of the play. The production did not have to compete with others and the people of Europe had most likely already heard of the play through people they knew either in the performance or helping set up the performance and it spread from there by word of mouth.
Script
The script of Romeo and JulietI[10] Versus the script of West Side Story[11]
There are many parallels between the scripts of Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story. The first is the beginning; Romeo and Juliet starts out with a street fight between the Montagues and Capulets. Likewise, the Jets and the Sharks in West Side Story have a similar fight to start the production. The fight in West Side Story is broken up by Krupke and Schrank, just as Prince Escalus breaks up the Montague-capulet fight. The second major parallel is when the two main characters meet. Some montague men crash the Capulet party in which Romeo meets Juliet. In West Side Story, Maria and Tony see each other from opposite sides of the gym and are immediately attracted to each other. Later, Romeo searches for Juliet and finds her at her balcony. After the dance in West Side Story, Tony finds Maria and uses the fire escape. Additionally, Romeo and Juliet go to a Friar to get married whereas Maria and Tony role-play a wedding during their tryst in the bridal shop. Another parallel is the big fight scene of West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet. Bernardo kills Riff like Tybalt kills Mercutio. Later, Tony avenges Riff’s death by killing Bernardo, just as Romeo kills Tybalt. Furthermore, the Capulet nurse is played around with and disgraced by Montague men in the story of Romeo and Juliet, while Anita is taunted and attacked by the Jets in West Side Story. A third important parallel is the endings of both plays. Both stories feature Maria/Juliet’s false death and Tony/Romeo’s suicidal response to this mistaken belief that his love is dead. An enraged Anita, following the attempted rape, deliberately tells the Jets that Chino has killed Maria, instead of conveying the original message of where Tony should meet with her. Comparatively, Juliet fakes her death, but an explanatory message sent to Romeo is delayed, causing him not to know her death is pretend. In West Side Story, Tony seeks out Chino in misery, wishing to die like Maria. Similarly in Romeo and Juliet, Romeo wishes to visit Juliet’s grave to take poison and die with her.
Not only are the differences between the script interesting, but also the differences in the productions. By changing the script of Romeo and Juliet and reproducing it as a Broadway play, West Side Story was able to attract a whole new audience. The fued between social and economical classes in Romeo and Juliet, such as the Montagues and Capulets, was appropriate for the 16th century when Shakespeare wrote the play. It was also appropriate for the 1662 reenactment because issues between social and economic classes was an important issue. However, West Side Story had more of a relation with people in the 20th century. Instead of having the two main characters be from different classes, they were from two different gangs. Especially with the first production being in New York, the audience was able to relate the play to real life.
SECONDARY MATERIALS
Contemporary Reviews
Romeo and Juliet
Samuel Pepys recorded in his diary that he saw the premiere of Romeo and Juliet on March 1, 1662, given by William Davenant’s company, the Duke’s Men. Pepys was not impressed: ‘It is the play of itself the worst that ever I heard in my life, and the worst acted that ever I saw these people do’, largely because the actors didn’t know their lines. [12]
Pepys was writing at the moment that, according to Jack Lynch, author of Becoming Shakespeare, marked the beginning of the rise of Shakespeare's reputation from the obscurity into which it had fallen after his death to the unassailable peak it now occupies. The oddity of this rise, expertly told here, is that it came about by way of versions of the plays that were cut, altered, censored and rewritten so that a lot of what we nowadays regard as quintessentially Shakespearean - violence, bawdy, irreverence - was left out. [13]
West Side Story [14]
Clearly the reviews between each performance are much different from each other. It was difficult to find reviews from the performance of Romeo and Juliet in 1662 but the one that was found was blatant, to the point, and not very detailed. The review was negative and said the play was bad and the acting was horrible. Conversely, the reviews of West Side Story were catchy, bold, and captivating. The remarks were positive and inspiring to those who have not seen the production. The commentary of Romeo and Juliet was done after the performance, knowing that no one else was going to see it. It was also written in someone's diary, not for the public to see. The comments about West Side Story were more than likely published while the play was still going on in an attempt to attract more viewers.
In conclusion, although both Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story had similarities in script and characters, there were also many differences. Nevertheless, it is not necessarily the disparity between the scripts or characters that are important but instead what elements of each performance were different. The locations, costumes, advertisements, performances, and many other elements of each play are key to understanding the diversity between productions long ago and present time.
References:
[1] "West Side Story." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Dec. 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Side_Story_(musical).[2] Victoria and Albert Museum. "Carthalia - London: Duke's Theatre (Dorset Gardens)." Andreas Praefcke - Homepage. http://www.andreas-praefcke.de/carthalia/uk/uk_london_dukes.htm.
[3] Artcraft. "On "The Rumble" and "Somewhere" - West Side Story Birth of a Classic (Library of Congress)." Library of Congress Home. 1958. Web. http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/westsidestory/introduction/enlarge28.html.
[4] Playbill. "Queen's Theatre Seating Chart - London." Playbill: Broadway, Off-Broadway, London News, Listings and Tickets. Web. 2010. http://www.playbill.com/reference/theatre_info/seating/43.html.
[5] "Winter Garden Theater New York, NY - Seating Chart and Stage." New York City Theatre: The Complete Guide to Broadway Shows and Theaters in NYC. Web. http://www.newyorkcitytheatre.com/theaters/wintergardentheater/seatingchart.php.
[6] Shicho. "7:38 Romeo and Juliet - Plays Reading - Plays Romeo and Juliet - 38 Plays: 38 Days." Www.shicho.net. 10 Mar. 2010. Web. http://www.shicho.net/38/?p=486.
[7] The Broadway League. "West Side Story." IBDB: The Official Source for Broadway Information. 2001. Web. http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=2639.
[8] "Dictionary - Definition of Romeo and Juliet." Webster's Online Dictionary - with Multilingual Thesaurus Translation. Web. <http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definitions/Romeo and Juliet?cx=partner-pub-0939450753529744:v0qd01-tdlq&cof=FORID:9&ie=UTF-8&q=Romeo and Juliet&sa=Search#922>.
[9] Redford Films. "West Side Story (Broadway) (1957) 14 X 22 Poster." Redford Films. 2010. Web. http://www.redfordfilms.com/product/MG407243/West-Side-Story-Broadway-1957-14-x-22-Poster---Style-A.html?meta=GBASE&metacpg=MG407243&utm_source=gbase&utm_medium=CPC&utm_content=&utm_campaign=MG407243.
[10] Shakespeare, William. "Full Text / Script of the Play Romeo and Juliet Act I by William Shakespeare." Play Script-Text: Romeo and Juliet. 2005. Web. http://www.william-shakespeare.info/act1-script-text-romeo-and-juliet.htm.
[11] Aellea Classic Movie Scripts. Web. http://www.aellea.com/script/westside.txt.
[12] Pepys, Samuel. "Chapter 3." Pepy's Diary. 1662. 39. Print.
[13] Lynch, Zach. Becoming Shakespeare. Christchurch, New Zealand, 2008. Print.
[14] The Broadway League. "Reviews - West Side Story." Official Site - West Side Story. 2010. Web. <http://www.broadwaywestsidestory.com/reviews.html>.